Srinivasan ki Jai! BCCI amar rahe!

Your never got to see the above headline. But it was well within the realms of possibility when the majority of national selectors had decided to take action before India’s triangular series Down Under in 2011-12. India had just lost the Test series 0-4 (Of course, Dhoni was as good as his team!)

However, Srinivasan used his presidential powers given by the BCCI constitution (or shall we say God’s own creation?) and rapped the selectors’ decision.

It is quite possible that Srinivasan would have done the same regardless of the player in question. For, he takes great pleasure in wielding his power and putting people in their places. However, the question is: would he have done the same if Dhoni was playing for MI or RCB in IPL?

That is where the clash of interest came. And a great example of the man over-ruling his own ‘expert’ committee which included the 1983 World Cup hero Mohinder Amarnath.

It was not the first time that the president tried to over-rule the selectors. Even NKP Salve had tried to order Bedi and Co to reinstate Kapil Dev for the Kolkata Test against England in 1983-84. But they wanted to punish him for an irresponsible shot in the preceding Delhi Test. (Of course, Sunil Gavaskar was the captain at the time).

However, the selectors at that time demanded that Salve gives his order in writing. The latter refused and thus Kapil missed the only match in his Test career.

Interestingly, Salve’s son was appearing as a counsel for Srinivasan’s rival in the current case.

The 25 state associations betrayed impotency in not calling an emergent committee meet to sack Srinivasan because of the huge powers that the BCCI constitution gives president, including selection of teams.

Even at the ICC level, the president used to enjoy powers. That’s how Jagmohan Dalmiya allowed chucker and cheater Shoaib Akhtar to bowl in ODIs despite his own expert panel’s verdict that Akhtar’s action was faulty. West Indies great Michael Holding resigned from that committee immediately. He continues to say that T20 is NO CRICKET and doesn’t do TV commentary in that format. That is called morality. But he can be seen as a fool by our immortal former cricketers.

Of course, using your powers is a far more competent thing to do rather than twiddling your thumbs. Hence Srinivasan (or for that matter umpire Darrell Hair) deserves respect.

But once you are seen as using your powers (which extended to the sacking of Mohinder Amarnath as selector after the above-mentioned case) you send problematic signal downwards.

The classic example was last year’s selection for the Irani Trophy. Despite having a fantastic season with the bat, Maharashtra’s Ankit Bawne was ignored for the Rest of India team. His spot was taken by Baba Aparajith (whose record at the time was far more inferior than Bawne’s), whose father is a close associate of Srinivasan and shielded Dhoni during the media interaction after the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

When the boss at the top is too powerful, his subordinates follow him due to their lack of conviction and fear of losing their posts. That’s why people connected to CSK and Tamil Nadu have got a bit of preferential treatment in Indian cricket. For, people keep quiet (this quietness gets wrongly construed as thumping majority in Indian politics in general) and allow the boss to rule.

Some questions remain despite the Supreme Court’s stinging verdict on Srinivasan’s clash of interest and their order (take that, not just observation!) to scrap the relevant amendment in the BCCI Constitution, sorry Gods’ Own Creation.

Can Srinivasan chair the BCCI AGM and decide contentious issues during the election process? Can he transfer ownership of CSK in short time (by fulfilling all the requirements that will satisfy Supreme Court) and remain the BCCI boss via election? Will he remain in the ICC if he is not part of the BCCI?

The court has brought high-flying husbands in BCCI back to earth by telling them in no uncertain terms that you may not be answerable to your wives, but you are answerable to the fans of Indian cricket (you undertake a public function)!! It will take some time for BCCI to swallow this bitter pill which has sailed outside the stadium.

Appointing a three-man probe panel, which will also order punishments, is a masterstroke from the Supreme Court. For, the culprits (in this case BCCI) will have to literally pay from their coffers for the inquiry constituted against themselves!!

When the arrogance of servants of the game (underline SERVANTS) is busted like this, some are bound to feel delighted.

However, intervention of the government machinery (which has proved to be quite useless in sporting matters) within the BCCI, as ‘suggested’ by Supreme Court, can be a dangerous sign which can further damage the administrative lacunas.

If Srinivasan had resigned (‘step aside’ is a kindergarten thing) after the 2013 IPL scandal, he could have protected BCCI’s autonomy, something that all BCCI members hold very dear. For, the court case wouldn’t have reached the extent of inviting the judges’ ire over the BCCI functioning.

No one was willing to fill in Srinivasan’s shoes then, even via the emergent meeting route. For, the cricket industry is so big, with everyone having their small stakes in it, that they want the IPL and its associate easy money to run as it were citing the spot fixing case as “just one of those rare cases in brilliantly-administered sport”. In other words, ‘no’ to the real inquiry.

Srinivasan’s is another case of ego building an empire and super-ego destroying its genesis.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Amit Karmarkar is sports editor at The Times of India in Pune. He started writing for a Marathi fortnightly and a newspaper at the age of 17 (in 1990). From being a mad fan of Sunil Gavaskar and John McEnroe, he has turned a bit cynical towards cricket, thanks to a barrage of insignificant matches, BCCI politicians and "source" stories.

Amit Karmarkar is sports editor at The Times of India in Pune. He started writing for a Marathi fortnightly and a newspaper at the age of 17 (in 1990). From. . .